Circumcision
Methods
Circumcision is routinely performed without any pain relieving medication for the baby. If performed without pain relieving medication, It is an excruciating procedure which can cause the baby to vomit, violently defecate, burst blood vessels in their eyes, create a hernia due the force of screaming, haemorrhage and go into shock- this is when baby is given back to mom nice and quietly, apparently asleep and mom is told that they didn’t even cry!
Circumcision is a ten minute procedure of the following methods:
Undressing
Undressing your baby and strapping him to a circumstraint board. His hands and feet will be tied down to prevent him moving and his exposed genitals will be swabbed with a solution to sterilise the area.
Tearing
The foreskin is manually torn away from the head of the penis (it is attached the same way that your fingernails are attached to your fingers).
Cutting
A vertical cut is made with a scalpel or scissors to allow the circumcision instruments in place.
Piercing
In some procedures, especially the Gomco Clamp method, the foreskin is held in place by use of a safety pin.
Clamping
The foreskin is crushed between two surfaces of circumcision equipment.
Slicing
The foreskin is removed with a scalpel.
7 - 10 Days of Healing Time
The exposed glans will be red and raw until it heals after approximately ten days. It will scab and must not be allowed to adhere to the inside of a diaper. If the scab is disturbed, the baby may haemorrhage. Care must be taken to completely cover the raw area with Vaseline to save the baby any extra pain from exposure to urine.
Some doctors tell mothers and fathers that’ it doesn’t hurt’ or that a newborn doesn’t feel pain and that it is ‘just a quick snip. The pain has been likened to peeling off a finger nail and then cutting into the raw part with a scalpel- how can it not hurt?
This is a video of the actual procedure. If you can’t watch it, you need to rethink your decision to circumcise before you put your baby through this unnecessary procedure.
(Go to the bottom of the page to download it.)
The Mogen Clamp Method
The Gomco Clamp
The Plastibell Method
The most ‘humane’ way of performing a circumcision is to delay until the eighth day after which the baby will have regained or be closer to his birth weight, he will have accomplished the physiological changes necessary to life outside the uterus (his blood clotting abilities will be in place), he may cope with the physical trauma and shock better and early onset meningococcal strep can be ruled out as a complicating factor.
An obstetrician’s scope of practice allows for him to perform circumcisions until the 14th day, after which the baby must be referred to a urologist. The financial cost is the same in week two as it is in week one. They can do it as an out patient procedure. Some obstetrician’s will discourage waiting, citing the "convenience" of doing it while already in the hospital, and that it is easier for their schedule, but that should not be a determining factor in the a parent’s decision making. The medical benefits of waiting are much more compelling!
Whether or not you choose to breastfeed your baby, by initiating breastfeeding and continuing until your baby has healed will give him the extra benefit of the infection fighting antibodies in your milk. You should nurse immediately before the procedure, request EMLA cream on the entire penis for one hour with saran wrap on top to stop any urine cancelling the numbing action of the EMLA, a dorsal penile nerve block injection or ring block injection, and nurse again immediately afterwards. It is your responsibility to research the different methods of circumcision and to find out which method your doctor uses. Some doctors perform loose or partial circumcisions and this may lead to adhesions afterwards.
Pros & Cons
| PROS | CONS |
Routine Infant Circumcision is performed because it has many health benefits. |
Routine Infant Circumcision has no health benefits and is performed for cosmetic, social reasons. |
Truth: Routine Infant Circumcision, or RIC, has no proven health benefits, though the American Academy of Pediatrics acknowledges that there might be some potential benefits. The AAP and other medical organisations consider RIC to be a cosmetic social custom rather than a necessary surgery. |
|
RIC is not painful; anesthesia is used and even still it happens very quickly, and is just a snip. |
RIC is painful. The anesthesia does not give adequate pain relief and is only used by a small percentage of doctors. |
Truth: While an infant's foreskin is considerably smaller than an adult foreskin, studies show that the procedure is more painful for infants. One reason for this is that the foreskin on an infant is fused to the glans of the penis and must be torn free in order to be removed. In adults, the foreskin is no longer fused. Also, adults may use stronger painkillers during and after the procedure, which infants do not receive due to the risks of anesthesia on infants. Studies indicate that only 4% of infants actually receive anesthesia because the risks it brings. |
|
RIC lessens the chance of urinary tract infections. |
RIC is a dramatic way to treat an infection, when it can be treated with antibiotics. |
Truth: According to some studies, circumcision decreases the risk of UTIs in the first year of life. Studies are, however, very conflicting. Most studies show little or no statistical difference. Also, the risk of UTIs in males is extremely low and can be treated safely with antibiotics. |
|
Circumcised males are more visually appealing, and will not have to worry about getting made fun of in the locker room, or by a girlfriend. |
Teach self esteem, not surgery. |
Truth: In America, circumcised males were more common, and studies show that among women, cut men were viewed as more appealing. However, in recent years, the rates between children that are cut and intact are very similar, showing that intact males will not be in the minority in the future. In the rest of the world, intact men are valued more and are in the majority. Over 80% of the world's males are intact. |
|
Children are often circumcised so they will look like their fathers. |
Male infants do not need penises that "look like" their fathers. |
Truth: Studies show that male children neither know or care about the circumcision status of their father. |
|
Circumcision lowers STD rates and the rate of cervical cancer in women. |
Circumcision is NOT protection against these things. |
Truth: Studies are very conflicting on these issues. The American Cancer Society says that circumcision is not a valid way to protect against either of these problems, and does not lessen risk. Both can be prevented with safe sex or abstinence. |
|
Circumcision lowers the risk of penile cancer. |
Penile cancer is very rare and treatable for uncut men. |
Truth: In America, circumcision is correlated with a lower risk of penile cancer. However, in many countries it is associated with a higher risk, indicating that circumcision has little to do with penile cancer rates and that factors such as smoking and sexual habits are the important issues. Also, if an intact man has penile cancer on his foreskin, he will be circumcised as treatment. If a cut man gets penile cancer, his penis will be partially or completely amputated. |
|
The benefits or circumcision outweigh the risks. |
There are no benefits; only risks. |
Truth: There are no proven benefits of circumcision. Some possible benefits, such as protection from infection or from penile cancer are counteracted by the risks: a child is just as likely to get an infection from a circumcision wound as there are from a UTI, and is just as likely to die from penile cancer as he is from circumcision complications. |
|
Circumcision does not affect sexual function. |
Circumcision severely hinders sexual function |
Truth: While one study suggests that there is no sensitivity difference, circumcision removes the thousands of nerves, including the frenulum, which is the most sensitive part of the male body. Also, without the protection of the foreskin, the glans kernatises over the years to protect from abrasion, burying nerves under up to 10 layers of lightly callused skin. The foreskin's gliding mechanism during intercourse is lost upon circumcision. |
|
Doctors would not support RIC if it wasn't necessary or healthy. |
Doctors support RIC for the money that they make from it. |
Truth: Most doctors do not support RIC and all admit it is not medically necessary; America is the only country that routinely circumcises infants. Whether these doctors do it for monetary reasons is debatable; most claim that they do it because there is a demand to circumcision for social reasons. |
|
Infants will not remember being circumcised |
Even though infants will not remember the trauma, RIC is still a violation of their rights. |
Truth: Infants will not remember being circumcised, but several recent studies suggest that there is a high correlation between Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and circumcision. Furthermore, even babies that appear to "sleep" through circumcision show elevated heart rate, blood pressure, difficulty breathing and bodily stress, indicating that the sleep-reaction may in-fact be shock, which can cause lasting effects on an infants body and mind. |
|
No man in his right mind would ever complain about being circumcised, though many intact men chose to get cut. |
It is better to have the choice that an intact man has, than to not have the choice, the way an unhappily cut man does. |
Truth: Most intact men do NOT chose to get cut later; the circumcision rate among intact men is less than .5% percent in America. In other countries, it is even lower. Also, due to recent information about circumcision, there is a large movement of cut men seeking to restore their lost foreskin through non-surgical and surgical methods. There are no statistics on this underground movement, though the network contains several mailing lists each with nearly a thousand members, and a recent book about restoration sold over 20,000 copies. There are also currently several lawsuits from men who are upset at being circumcised without their consent as infants. |
|
Medical Association Views
Position papers of international medical associations regarding infant circumcision:
- The Canadian Paediatric Society
- The Royal Australasian College of Physicians
- The American Academy of Family Physicians
- The American Academy of Pediatrics
- The American Cancer Society
- The American Medical Association
- The Australasian Association of Paediatric Surgeons
- The Australian College of Paediatrics
- American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
- The British Medical Association
Contraindications to circumcision
-
Unstable or sick infant: Circumcision is contraindicated if the baby is unstable or sick. Circumcision is elective surgery and, as with other medically elective procedures, it should be delayed until the baby is well. Signs of stability include normal feeding, elimination, and maintenance of normal body temperature without an incubator or radiant warmer.
A period of observation after the infant's birth may allow for recognition of abnormalities or illnesses (eg, serious jaundice, infection, or manifest bleeding disorder) that should be addressed before this elective surgery.
-
Prematurity: It is usually best to wait until a premature infant meets the criteria for discharge from the hospital before performing circumcision.
-
Genital anomalies: Infants born with genital anomalies (including one called hypospadias) should not be circumcised. The foreskin may be needed for the surgical correction of the anomalies.
-
Bleeding problems: Whenever there is a family history of bleeding disorders, appropriate laboratory studies should be performed to make certain the baby himself has not inherited the bleeding disorder
Resources
Circumcision Resource Center (CRC)
Information and Resources
Ronald Goldman, Ph.D.
P.O. Box 2324, MA 02133
Tel/Fax: 617-523-0088
E-mail: crc@circumcision.org
Website: www.JewishCircumcision.org
Doctors Opposing Circumcision (D.O.C.)
Physician Information and Networking
2442 NW Market St #42, Seattle, WA 98107
Tel: 360-385-1882, Fax: 360-385-1948
E-mail: gcd@u.washington.edu
Lightfoot-Associates
Information on Female Genital Mutilation
Hanny Lightfoot-Klein, M.A.
4910 N. Calle Bosque, Tucson, AZ 85718
Tel: 520-529-2029, Fax: 520-529-9411
National Organization of Restoring Men (NORM)
Information and Support Group on Foreskin Restoration
R. Wayne Griffiths, M.S.
3205 Northwood Drive #209, Concord, CA 94520-4506
Tel: 510-827-4077
Fax: 510-827-4119
E-mail: waynerobb@aol.com
National Organization to Halt the Abuse and Routine Mutilation of Males (NOHARMM)
Activist Organization for Men
Tim Hammond
P.O. Box 460795, San Francisco, CA 94146
Tel: 415-826-9351 Fax: 305-768-5967
E-mail: info@noharmm.org